Sayonara Subsidized Christmas Shopping

WINNIPEG, MB: The Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) released documents today which show the provincial government’s Vital Statistics Branch allowed employees to go Christmas shopping on the clock in 2010, even though the department knew it was “extremely behind.”

Incredibly, employees had to be brought in on the weekends and paid overtime to catch-up. In an email to employees, a manager noted:

“Yay to Susan, who is generously giving all her staff 2 hours for Christmas shopping!!!” “I am anticipating we will not have any conflicts among each other as any time off is a wonderful gift. Please do not spend hours in group discussions as we are extremely behind and do not want to fall even further behind deciding over a couple of hours.”

The CTF was tipped off about the Christmas shopping by a ‘government insider’ who was disturbed by the situation. Thankfully, after investigating the issue, the CTF was told the practice has now been discontinued. “How is it that the government is running a massive deficit, yet this department wasn’t told to watch every penny closely,” asked CTF Prairie Director Colin Craig. “It’s great the practice has been discontinued, but who is going to stand up and be accountable for the blunder?” To view the staff email and department’s response, click here.

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